A Black-owned staple is planting roots.
Liberation Station Bookstore will be opening its physical doors for the first time in the historic heart of downtown Raleigh, NC this year, WRAL reported. After years of pop-up events, motivated founders and husband and wife duo Victoria Scott-Miller and Duane Miller now have a home to continue upholding a legacy of literacy and liberation within the community and the African Diaspora.
“This will be #NorthCarolina’s first Black-owned children’s bookstore, and we’re elated to be rooted in the heart of downtown Raleigh, the #OakCity,” as proclaimed by Liberation Station.
“I feel so incredibly blessed,” Scott-Miller, a literacy advocate, author, business owner, and mother of two, told the news outlet. “It makes me feel so full because I never envisioned getting a brick-and-mortar.”
She added, “We were the first Black-owned bookstore we ever set foot in,” she said. “To know that we have carved out a space in the universe for our children to feel safe and to be able to be curious, to be joyful…it’s overwhelming to think about.”
From the Duke Gardens and Durham Hotel to the North Carolina Museum of Art, Liberation Station has been on the move with a mission since 2019. Now, they’re using funds raised through their crowdsourcing efforts, including a partnership with The Bulls of Durham, to help them to upfit the 364 sq. ft. store at 208 Fayetteville St.
“This vision was simple. Provide a space for Black children to see themselves in literature,” Scott-Miller explained in a social media post.
“That vision began out of the trunk of our car and then migrated to pops-up all around the triangle, then to our permanently housed narratives inside of the Durham Hotel and Duke Gardens. But we soon realized that we didn’t need a lot of space to make a big impact and then Liberation was born.”
The Millers are anticipating a grand opening on June 19, Juneteenth, a federal holiday commemorating the emancipation of enslaved people. In addition, the bookstore will be offering high-quality children’s books written and illustrated by none other than Black and underrepresented authors and illustrators.
The store will be divided into carefully thought-out sections, featuring works about the voyage of the Transatlantic Map, the exploration of Black childhood, banned stories written by the likes of James Baldwin and Toni Morrison, and more.
